Flooring-driver.



A. HAGEL.

FLOORING DRIVER.

APPLICATION FILED 05c. 11, 1914.

Patgnted Nov. 23, 1915.

WITNESSES INVENTOR 5.6:) 409052 /709e/ AUGUST HAGEL, or sr. PAUL, irrnivnsorn,

FLOORING-DRIVER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. as, rare.

Application filcrlllecember 11, 1914. Serial No. 876,653.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, AUGUST HAGEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and. useful Improvements in Flooring-Drivers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a flooring driver adapted for use in drivin uo matched floorin to make ti 'ht b l b b joints during the laying of the flooring and especially adapted for use, when working close to a wall.

To the above end generally stated, the in vention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1, is a fragmentary perspective view of a room in which the finished flooring is partly laid. The improved fiooring'driver is also illustrated in said figure. The full line position of said driver shows the same in position to draw a piece of flooring edgewise, and the dotted line position thereof shows the device in position to draw the piece of flooring endwise; Fig. 2 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section showing the method of forcing the improved device to its work and for holding the same against slippage; and Fig. 3 is a detail view partly in elevation and partly in transverse section taken on the line X X of Fig. 2.

The numerals l, 2, and 3, indicate respectively the walls, rough floor and the finished floor of a room. As is well known in laying matched flooring and particularly hard wood flooring considerable pounding is necessary to draw up the boards to make tight joints therebetween. In laying the last few boards of a floor there is not sufficient room between these boards and the adjacent wall in. which to swing a hammer or hand ax fordriving up the boards. To draw up the last few boards, it is customary to use a short board as a lever with a block of wood interposed between the lever and wall as a fulcrum. This fulcrum block flooring often breaks the plaster and does consider able damage. To overcome this difliculty I provide a flooring driver of novel constructlon.

Referring now in detail to the improved driver the numeral l, indicates a relatively wide flat metal bar having one of its ends bent laterally downward to afford a board engaging lug 5. The other end of this driving bar l, is bent laterally upward and forward to afford a yoke or a pocket 6. Within this pocket 6 is mounted a driving block or head 7, preferably formed from hard wood. This driving block 7, is detachably and removably secured within the pocket 6 by a pair of nut equipped bolts 8 passed through alined perforations formed in the prongs of the yoke 6 and driving block 7.

In using the improved flooring driver to draw a piece of flooring edgewise the driving bar l-is placed flat on the floor with its lug 5 in engagement with the tongue of the piece of flooring being laid as best shown in Fig. 2. Then by striking on the driving block 7 with a hammer or hand ax the piece of flooring being laid will be drawn on to the last laid piece of flooring to make a tight joint therebetween. To prevent the device from rebounding after striking on the head 7 and under the spring action of the piece of flooring being laid the carpenter may step on the bar 4 to frictionally hold the same in contact with the floor.

In Fig. 2 is illustrated a hand 9 holding a hammer 10 by which the driving block 7 has been struck to move the bar 1 in a direction to draw the lastpiece of flooring into position. A. foot 11 is also illustrated in Fig. :2 to show the method of holding the 7 device from slipping after each blow has been delivered bythe hammer, ordinarily it would probably take several blows to drive the flooring into position.

By means of dotted lines in Fig. 1 the device is illustrated in a position to drive the piece of flooring endwise to make a tight joint between abutting ends of two pieces of flooring. As the lug 5 is not very thick the same may be inserted either between the edge or end of a board and a wall, when said board is very close to the wall. The heads of the bolts 8 are counter-sunk so that the bottom of the bar 4 is perfectly smooth. The only part of the device which will wear out is the striking block and this maybe replaced by a new one from time to time by simply removing the bolts 8.

The above described invention has in actual usage proven highly efiicient for the purpose had in view.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the kind described oom-.

prising a flat metal driving bar having one of its ends bent laterally downward to afford a board engaging lug and having its other end bent to afford a yoke, and a striking block detachabl-y seated in said yoke.

2. A device of the kind described COIH- prising a fiat metal driving bar having one of its ends bent laterally downward to afford a board engaging lug and having its other end bent upward and forward to afiorda yoke, a striking block detachably seat- .ed in said yoke, and a bolt detachably seeuring said striking block in said yoke.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of 1?atents.

Washington, D. G. 

